Domino's: Fighting Back to Protect Its Brand

Gross stuff grabs eyeballs.

When the video of an employee violating all sorts of health-code standards all over various Domino's (DPZ) dishes reached over a million online viewers, it dealt the pizza company's reputation a serious blow.

So the company got serious.

The two offending employees were charged with delivering prohibited foods, fired, and face felony charges.

Reader Beware: If you're ready to be grossed out, check out the prank here!

These days the most powerful brand messages aren't relayed through carefully-crafted 30-second TV spots. Brands are made and destroyed on the social web, where Joe Shmos with a video camera can wield more power than Fortune 500 companies ever imagined. And needless to say, these things take on a life of their own.

Theoretically, at this point, why should consumers care?

The employees say that they never delivered the food and the company is clearly doing everything possible to reassure consumers that this was a fantastical, cruel joke with no connection to reality. But when it comes to brand equity, it just doesn't work that way. Consumers' perception of Domino's quality flipped from positive to negative with the click of a million mice between Monday and Wednesday (according to research firm YouGov).

Domino's has tried to respond to the offensive video on the same stage. Domino's president, Patrick Doyle, posted his own video on YouTube, apologizing.

Doyle promises that the now famous store has been shut down. But these days, everyone's a critic and Domino's just can't catch a break. Now the blogosphere is buzzing with criticism of Doyle for looking off-camera. (Though to be fair there's lots of praise for responding in the same medium).

To a TV journalist it looks like he's talking to an interviewer sitting just off-camera. To websurfers it looks like Domino's isn't addressing them head-on.

Fast food has a bad track record in this arena. Just last year a Burger King (BKC) employee made a video while taking a bath in the fast food joint's sink. The employee was fired and Burger King hasn't been noticeably hurt.

Social media can attack even without an incriminating video of employees in a kitchen. Twitter users' were all over Amazon's (AMZN) policies for being anti-gay and that definitely hurt the e-tailer.

Social media attacks are increasingly common and increasingly impactful.. And yeah, consumers have more reasons to be grossed out. The question is whether the frequency of social brand-bashing means that consumers will be willing to forgive and forget and move on faster.

Comments

[Mr. Man:]

It is amazing how multimillion dollar companies earnings can change so much, and all because 1 or 2 amateur online videos .

Apr 26 02:49 AM

[Pfloyd234:]

I wanna know how these people were able to videotape themselves doing these things at a place of business. Where was management? I have actually been having Domino's more often lately instead of Pizza Hut because of their Pasta, Sandwiches, & their amazing American Legends Memphis BBQ pizza. Their new Pasta bowls look good too. I think they are doing a very good job with their quality and breadth of products. I like that they have much more than pizza which can get boring after awhile. Hopefully they will learn from this and not let this ruin their comeback plans. I think it was just some isolated instances where they obviously hired some retards and it got out of hand. It should pass eventually. The video of them responding should of been redone with the whole look off camera but them responding through YouTube was a good move. If they can get through this which I think they will their future to me looks bright.

Jun 17 11:51 PM